Queen’s ‘tour from HELL' to Morocco made her ‘VERY angry'

The Queen’s one and only trip to the North African nation in 1980 was dogged by blunders and mishaps, with Her Majesty experiencing a series of unfortunate events.

The monarch endured a lengthy wait in a sweltering hot desert tent while the Moroccan King Hassan II vanished and went to lounge in his air-conditioned caravan.

Newspaper reports told how the Queen was “clearly very angry”, showing signs of displeasure by fidgeting with her bag and hat, and tapping her foot.

‘ANGRY’: The Queen’s Morocco tour was reportedly the ‘tour from hell’ (Pic: GETTY)

“Keep your cameras trained; you may see the biggest walkout of all time,” she told photographers at the time.

Royal tours to the North African country, where the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will start a three-day official visit today, have proved somewhat challenging over the years.

The Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret, reportedly warned her, saying: “Going to Morocco is rather like being kidnapped, you never know where you are going or when.”

King Hassan II, who ruled from 1961 to 1999, was extremely paranoid, having survived a number of assassination attempts, so was deliberately erratic in his movements.

MOROCCO: Her Majesty was reportedly kept waiting (Pic: GETTY)

He made the Queen change cars seven times on the road from Marrakesh into the foothills of the snow-capped Atlas Mountains during the trip in October 1980.

Schedules were thrown into disarray and venues were switched between the many royal palaces without notice.

At one point, the Queen arrived in full regalia for the king’s state banquet to find that the chosen palace was closed.

She was left waiting for nearly an hour for her host to arrive.

ROYAL: The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh during their visit to Morocco (Pic: GETTY)

Meanwhile, the Duke of Edinburgh’s private secretary managed to arrange for a dry martini to be passed to the Queen through the window of her car, according to royal writer Robert Hardman.

Another time, the monarch admonished King Hassan II for blaming her then-assistant private secretary Robert Fellowes for a delayed lunch, telling him: “I’ll thank you not to speak to my staff like that.”

She also overruled him when he cancelled a visit to a British funded Leonard Cheshire centre for the disabled and tried to take her back to one of his palaces instead.

“You can stop the car in that case,” the Queen remarked to the king.

‘DISARRAY’: The Queen on her trip to Morocco (Pic: GETTY)

TRIP: The Queen and King Hassan II (Pic: GETTY)

“And I’ll go with my security people.”

She went ahead with the engagement on her own.

Newspaper reports at the time told how the monarch entered into a heated discussion with the king when he returned after leaving her waiting in a sweltering tent.